ghana’s national U-20 women’s team, the Black Princesses, were held to a 2-2 drawn encounter by the Basetsana of South Africa in the first leg of the third round qualifier for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup at the Accra Sports Stadium, yesterday.
the Black Princesses opened the scoring with an agnes yeboah header from a corner kick by linda owusu ansah on the 34th minute.
after the break, the south africans hit back as midfielder zoe october drived a long-range strike from outside the box straight into the top right corner of the net for the equaliser.
with their backs against the wall, the ghanaians fought back and probed further for more goals. four minutes after the equaliser, they restored the lead when goalkeeper casey gordon deflected linda owusu ansah’s corner into her net.
the visitors were, however, unyielding. they remained very resolute and confident and carried the game to the ghanaians. their persistence was rewarded in the 59th minute when lindelwa mabuza laid a pass to khwezi khoza who cut through the ghanaian defence before slotting past jenna kayla sapong in post for the Black Princesses.
the game was reduced to a midfield battle with the visitors slightly on top as they pushed the ghanaians into their own half. occasionally, the princesses had attempts on goal but poor shooting on the part of ivy owusu osei, zeinab haruna, and comfort yeboah robbed ghana of the match winner.
three minutes from the end, substitute jessica appiah had the ball at the back of the net but was judged offside, capping a disappointed afternoon for coach charles sampson and his charges.
the Black Princesses will travel to johannesburg for the second leg this weekend with the winner over the two legs going on to face the winner of the zambia versus uganda game in the final round for one of Africa’s four slots at the Mundial.
By Raymond Ackumey
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